246 [October, 



even if the much more brightly coloured wings of the latter are invisible, a glimpse 

 of its conspicuously white legs is at once sufficient to distinguish it from P. 

 pulveralis. 



I was in great hopes of finding the larva this year, but repeated searches for it 

 in the spring and early summer were not rewarded with success. It appears to be 

 still unknown and undescribed except in its earlier stages, upon which some notes, 

 made from larva 1 hatched in confinement, have been published in Buckler's " Larvae 

 of British Butterflies and Moths," ix, 149-151. The larva is reputed to feed in 

 nature on Mentha aquatica, and Mr. Buckler's young larvae throve for a short while 

 upon this plant, which he calls (I. c.) by the name " Mentha hirsuta," while Mr. 

 Porritt reports (I.e.) that the newly hatched larvae under his care took kindly to 

 "common garden mint." — Id.: August loth. 



Occurrence of Noctua plecta, L., in April. — It may be of interest to record 

 the fact that on the night of April 16th, 1881, I captured at sallow bloom in this 

 neighbourhood a specimen of Noctua plecta ; it was a female in beautiful condition, 

 and had evidently only emerged quite recently. Unless my memory plays me 

 false, I have seen within the last few years, in one of t lie entomological magazines, 

 a notice of the capture, also at sallow bloom, of a specimen of N. plecta as early as 

 April, but am unable to find it: such an occurrence must be very exceptional. In 

 Entom., ix, 273, Mr. Cavringtori recorded the capture of N. plecta and other summer 

 Noctua- at sal/otv bloom near Rannoch, but the appearance of the moths was hardly 

 premature, since the date was June 17th ! — Id. 



Albinic aberration of Catoptria ulicetana, Hw. — In Ent. Mo. Mag., ser. 2, 

 viii, 63 (1897), I recorded the capture by myself, on May 10th, 1892, of a remarkable 

 albinic aberration of Catoptria ulicetana on the Isle of Purbeck coast. Since that 

 nole was written I have come across, among some Micros waiting to be added to my 

 collection, a second example of this same aberration of C. ulicetana that I took on 

 the Isle of Purbeck coast, though not in the same spot as the first one, on May 12th, 

 1893. Its capture had escaped my memory when penning the note referred to 

 above, though it had been duly entered in my diary at the time. This specimen, 

 which is also a male, agrees very well with the description given (/. c) of the other, 

 except that, near the apex of the fore-wing, three or four cream-coloured costal 

 singula* can be traced. I refrain from suggesting a name for this striking aberra- 

 tion, not knowing as yet what degree of albinism is exhibited by var. conjunclana, 

 Moschl., which is briefly described in Staudinger and Rebel's " Catalog" (19(H) as 

 " multo dilutior, albescens." — Id. 



Tamiocampa gracilis, var. rufescens, Ckll., in East Dorset. — This striking 

 variety (popularly known as the "New Forest red form") of Taniocampa gracilis 

 has been recorded from Hampshire, Kent and Perthshire (vide Brit. Noel, and their 

 Vars., p. 146), but I was quite unaware of its occurrence in Dorset until last April. 

 It gave me especial pleasure, therefore, to see, on April 18th, in the collection of 

 Mr. W. G. Hooker, of Bournemouth, a fine example of this variety, which had been 

 taken by himself a few years ago near Ham Preston, which lies in the portion of 

 East Dorset between Wimborne and the western boundary of Hampshire. — Id. 



